Austin

5:23 pm

Tue June 14, 2011

LCRA Criticized for Hasty GM Pick

When LCRA General Manager Tom Mason announced his resignation last week, some observers cried foul, claiming he had been pressured out for political reasons. State Senators Troy Fraser (R-Horseshoe Bay) Glenn Hegar (R-Katy) and Kirk Watson (D-Austin) -- all of who represent regions that use water sold by the LCRA -- said they would carefully monitor the hiring of Mason's replacement.

"All three of us are uniform in our in our belief that what we need to have is a very open process that isn’t tainted by politics,” Watson told KUT.

Now, just a week after Mason's resignation, the LCRA has named Rebecca Motal as Mason's replacement. Motal is the Agency's Executive Manager of LCRA's External Affairs, and former Chair of the Travis County Republican Party.

Watson is not pleased.

"The leadership of the LCRA was aware of the Senators desire (to be involved in the hiring process) and that's part of the reason I'm surprised at the approach that they took," Watson told KUT News.

"I would have expected that an entity of this size would have cast its net a little more broadly and of course any internal candidates would have be able to rise to the top under such a process," said Watson.